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  1. Math

    Staying in Step

    Late in the winter of 1665, an ailing Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) was confined to his room for a few days. The Dutch physicist whiled away the hours of his confinement by closely observing and pondering the odd behavior of two pendulum clocks he had recently constructed. Huygens had obtained a patent on the first pendulum […]

    By Ivars Peterson
  2. Math

    Planes of Budapest

    Nearly every Sunday during the winter of 1933 in Budapest, a small group of students would meet somewhere in the city at a park or cafe to discuss mathematics. The gathering typically included Paul Erdös (1913–1996), who was attending the University of Budapest, György (George) Szekeres, a recent chemical engineering graduate of the Technical University […]

    By Ivars Peterson
  3. Math

    Plato’s Molecule

    In his dialogue Timaeus, the Greek philosopher Plato (427–347 B.C.)